Received some lures without hooks ...

[cgs01]

... is there a way to find out what size of hook should go on the lure?

I bought an old tackle box at a garage sale a while back. Some of the lures didn't have hooks on them but there was a container with trebles in them. I tried to match the larges hooks with the largest lures, but there were some hooks left over - obviously some lures were missing and I may have mismatched the hooks on the smaller lures.

Is the length or width of the lure a determining factor?

Thank you for any help.

cgs

[Smoky buck]

Unfortunately there is no magic formula to match the hooks to the lure. Some lure types it will have little to no impact on the action others like crankbaits, Jerkbaits, and gliders it does. With theses it’s a matter of buoyancy or weight distribution

Some lures if you know the brand/model/size you should be able to Google it

What type of lures are they?

As someone who builds lures I know a few tricks to find the right match or even vary the action on the lures a little with hook weight if you can’t find it through a search. But you will still need to test them and possibly adjust size when you do to find the right action

Suspending and a slow controlled rise/fall on Jerkbait/gliders are the pickiest actions regarding hooks

[jednastka]

From when I used to make lures:
1. Take a broken tip section of a rod, at least 2 feet, and tie a line to the tiptop and the smallest snap you can find to the other end.
2. Fill your bathtub
3. snap on a known similar lure with hooks, and pull it through the water at an appropriate speed.
4. Test the unknown lure with various hook sizes until the action is much the same.


Vic

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by jednastka

From when I used to make lures:
1. Take a broken tip section of a rod, at least 2 feet, and tie a line to the tiptop and the smallest snap you can find to the other end.
2. Fill your bathtub
3. snap on a known similar lure with hooks, and pull it through the water at an appropriate speed.
4. Test the unknown lure with various hook sizes until the action is much the same.


Vic

That will work for some but not for many designs. I have designed many lures that can’t be tested in a bathtub do to lack of room and depth. There is many lures tub testing won’t work at all. You can build test tubs using water flow but not worth it for the original poster

What can be done is a simple tank test but you need to know what you are looking for with different styles. This will give you a good idea on the right hook size but once casting and retiring the lure you may need to adjust the size to tweak the action or even prevent it from blowing out

[CNP]

Originally Posted by cgs01

... is there a way to find out what size of hook should go on the lure?

I bought an old tackle box at a garage sale a while back. Some of the lures didn't have hooks on them but there was a container with trebles in them. I tried to match the larges hooks with the largest lures, but there were some hooks left over - obviously some lures were missing and I may have mismatched the hooks on the smaller lures.

Is the length or width of the lure a determining factor?

Thank you for any help.

cgs

Spoons and plugs..............I change out many treble hooks on spoons and plugs because they are not big enough (in my mind )

Generally, I want a plug/spoons treble to be the same width, in appearance, as the plug/spoon.

[superuke]

Take you hooks into the fishing hole. They will match them up for you. You will also need the split ring. Buy a few spare hooks. I always have a couple dozen spares. The hooks can break as they are cheap ola.

[AlbertanGP]

Originally Posted by CNP

Spoons and plugs..............I change out many treble hooks on spoons and plugs because they are not big enough (in my mind )

+1. I change most of the hooks on most of my lures to something of better quality and a larger size.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by CNP

Spoons and plugs..............I change out many treble hooks on spoons and plugs because they are not big enough (in my mind )

Generally, I want a plug/spoons treble to be the same width, in appearance, as the plug/spoon.

I dont care what they look like, but if the spoon spins rather than wobbles, a bigger hook/ more drag will often correct this. IMO, for the most part, you want to just barely correct the tendency to spin at your desired speed and no more.

For plugs it depends, in my observations more weight/ drag in the form of hooks will often result in a tighter wobble (to a point, then its just killing the action). This may or may not be a good thing, IE, pulling one of the trebles off of a Rapala original will make for a more intense wider wobble, but this quite often doesnt seem to result in them catching fish as well.

[CNP]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

I dont care what they look like, but if the spoon spins rather than wobbles, a bigger hook/ more drag will often correct this. IMO, for the most part, you want to just barely correct the tendency to spin at your desired speed and no more.

For plugs it depends, in my observations more weight/ drag in the form of hooks will often result in a tighter wobble (to a point, then its just killing the action). This may or may not be a good thing, IE, pulling one of the trebles off of a Rapala original will make for a more intense wider wobble, but this quite often doesnt seem to result in them catching fish as well.

I don't necessarily care what it looks like either. If it's too small or too big I'll change it out if it's obvious out of size, but generally you'll encounter a too small situation vs too large.

[ghostguy6]

This should give you an idea for spoons.

From the Len Thompson site:

We have a few of our patterns available pre-assembled with single hooks, however, if you wish to replace the standard barbed treble, a size guide is below:

* No. 6, 7, 10 - Size 8 hook
* No. 8 - Size 4 hook
* No. 00, 11, 11X - Size 1/0 hook
* No. 0, 13, 13X - Size 2/0 hook
* No. 1 - Size 3/0 hook
* No. 2 - Size 6/0
* No. 4 - Size 7/0